It’s been 10 years since the 2008 financial crisis and we’re still living with the fallout: financial institutions have seen few major regulatory changes, the poor and middle class have carried the burden of austerity measures and have responded with a sharp rise in populism, and life expectancy has stagnated.

In an epic seven-part piece, Andrew O’Hagan writes on the harrowing Grenfell Tower fire that took place in London, England on June 14th, 2017. Telling dozens of individual stories of survivors and victims of the catastrophe, his essay posits that shoddy renovations and a poorly managed fire response that urged residents to “stay put” and wait for rescue — a policy only rescinded until it was too late for residents on the upper floors to evacuate — cost 72 people their lives.

Between ambulance delays, an aging population and a lack of beds, emergency medical care in England is on the brink of collapse. Compounding the issues is the fact that the country’s National Health Service is trying to reform its entire structure, and so far the transition is not a smooth one.

“And now it feels, in the addiction and vertigo of the digital revolution, as if this ancient organism is wheezing, drawing its final breaths. We were never more than an extension of the geology of the Thames Valley.”

Mary Beard’s epic essay on women in power “from Medusa to Merkel” takes aim at representations of power throughout history, and how the definitions of authority, expertise, and knowledge have long excluded women.

With the rise of Trump’s authoritarianism and campaign against truth, people are rereading George Orwell. This review of two books about Orwell offers a sidelong view into Orwell’s work and the person behind it, in order to show that Orwell is more than a brand and symbol. He was person of strange habits, strong convictions, artistic vision and foul smells.